Underground mechanical crusher and stower



E956 D. w. JACKSON UNDERGROUND MECHANICAL CRUSHER AND STOWER 5 Sheeis-Sheet 1 Filed Dec.

JNVENTOR, DERIC WALTON JACKSON, BY

Sept 1, 1956 D. w. JACKSON UNDERGROUND MECHANICAL CRUSHER AND STOWER 'MEAE Filed Dec. 29 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR, DERIQ WALTON JAGKSONQ BY @pitw 18, 1956 D. w. JACKSON 976 1 UNDERGROUND MECHANICAL CRUSHER AND STOWER Filed Dec. 29, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR; Deana WALTON JACKSON,

RJGBAE D. W. JACKSON 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR;

DERIC WALTON JACK UNDERGROUND MECHANICAL CRUSHER AND STOWER Filed Dec.

Sept. 18, 1956 D. w. JACKSON UNDERGROUND MECHANICAL CRUSHER AND STOWER 5 heetshee 5 Filed Deg, 29, 1951 N, mm mm 2 V N 1 W U m m BM b n N gig ATTX United States 2,763,436 Patented Sept. 18, 1956 UNDERGROUND MECHANICAL CRUSHER AND STOWER Deric Walton Jackson, Wakefield, England, assignor to all? Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Application December 29, 1951, Serial No. 264,111

Claims. (Cl. 241-31) This invention relates to crushing machines of the rotary type, and in one aspect it relates to a crushing and/or stowing machine particularly adapted for use in a mine for crushing and/or stowing and packing waste material, such as slate, dirt, rock, and the like, which waste material is known in the art as gob, into mined out or abandoned passageways or openings in the mine to fill them and to dispose of the waste material.

An object of the invention is to provide a crushing and/or stowing machine for carrying out the function above set forth, and wherein gob fed into the machine is reduced and impelled forwardly from the machine with considerable speed whereby the gob may be thrown or injected into a mine passageway, room or opening to fill it.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved machine of the type set forth wherein material to be crushed and/or stowed is fed to a position below a rotor to be acted on thereby by means of a slide and gravity, and from which slide the material is forcefully thrown or ejected forwardly from the machine.

It is another object of the invention to provide an improved crushing machine in which mechanism is provided for spraying liquid within the crushing chamber and upon the material where it is acted upon by the rotor and thereafter whereby dust and sparking will be suppressed, and the machine will be washed internally by the liquid.

In carrying out the foregoing object it is, in a more limited aspect, another object of the invention to provide on the rotor at least some of the spraying apparatuses whereby the spraying apparatuses rotate with the rotor to introduce the liquid into the reducing chamber with a whirling, washing action.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved crusher wherein the ends of the crusher rotor are enclosed within blower housings into which liquid is fed to settle dust and wash the latter from the housing, and wherein the ends of the rotor are provided with impeller elements and surfaces adapted to aid in cleaning sludge from the blower housing.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is view in plan of a crushing and stowing machine constructed in accordance with the invention, parts of the machine being indicated diagrammatically in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a view in section, the section being taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of the front of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view in section, the section being taken substantially on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a view in section and on a larger scale showing details of the rotor shaft and one of its supporting bearlugs; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the crushing and stowing machine in a mine.

Referring now to the drawings, the crushing and stowing machine illustrated includes an elongated rectangular sledge or base plate 10 that is turned upwardly along its sides and ends, as indicated at 11 in the drawings, to facilitate movement of the machine over a mine floor. Sledge or base plate ill carries a material reducing casing or housing 10 that includes a pair of spaced perpendicular side walls 12 (Fig. 2) formed by lower wall portions 12 and upper wall portions 14. Side walls 12 are disposed parallel to the sides of the sledge or base plate It) and are inset therefrom. The casing or housing side wall portions 12' extend from the front end of the sledge or base plate 1% over more than half the length of the latter. The upper wall portions 14 rest upon and are secured, in a detachable manner, to the tops of the lower side wall portions 12 by cooperating lugs 15 and bolts to (Figs. 1 and 3). ()ther similar lugs coupled by bolts, not shown, are provided at intervals along each joint between the casing or housing side wall portions 12 and 14.

T he upper front corners of the upper side wall portions 14 are curved as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings and the top of the casing or housing 1G is closed by a top wall 17 secured at opposite sides to the upper wall portions 14 and which at its rear end terminates adjacent a top feed opening 18. At its front end, top wall it? is curved downwardly and it terminates above the junctions between the casing side wall portions 12' and 14. The rear sections of the upper side wall portions 14 cooperate to form side walls of a feed hopper 18 which hopper is below the top feed opening 18 in the casing or housing lid.

At the front end of the casing or housing it?" there is an outlet, discharge or exhaust opening 1? (Fig. 2) in the casing or housing It) which is formed by the front end 20 of the top wall 17, the side walls 12 and the front end of the sledge or base plate which is cut away as indicated at 33 in the drawings. This outlet, dis" charge or exhaust opening 19 can be closed by a foldable cover 21 carried by a main hinge 22 including brackets 23 one on each upper side wall portion 14 of each side wall 12 of the casing or housing 1d and adjacent the front end 2% of the top wall 17. Cover 21 includes three plates hinged together by hinges Z4 and 2 5. That position occupied by the cover 21 when the outlet, discharge or exhaust opening 19 is fully opened is indicated by dotdash lines in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

At each side of the casing or housing ill there is a substantially cylindrical casing or blov ehousing that forms a pocket or chamber 27 the diameter of which is approximately equal to the height of the casing or housing 10'. The cylindrical form of each of these pockets or chambers n7 is interrupted adjacent the front lower part of the casing or housing ill to provide an outlet, discharge or exhaust opening 23 through which material may be thrown or forcefully ejected from the pocket or chamber 27. Each pocket or chamber 27 opens into the interior of the casing or housing it) through an aperture 29 in one of the casing or housing side walls 112. The diameter of each aperture 2h is less than the diameter of the adjacent pocket or chamber 27 and slightly larger than an end member or disc 43 of a. rotor as that extends therethrough.

A plate 30, which forms a part of the casing or housing Ill, extends between the lower side wall portions 12' and descends in a smooth downward curve or inclination from adjacent the lower end of the rear hopper wall 31 to the upper surface of the sledge or base plate It) below the rotor 40. Extending across the front edge of the plate 30 there is a stop bar 32 that is secured to the sledge or base plate and the ends of which extend into appropriate recesses in the lower side wall portions 12'. A series of bars 34, each of which is square in cross-section, are arranged in side-by-side relation to extend across the plate 30 between the spaced lower side wall portions 12 of the casing or housing It). The bars 34 provide a renewable wearing surface above the plate 30, extend at their ends into grooves 35 in the lower wall portions 12', and are held between the stop bar 32 and screws 36 carried in brackets 37 secured to the spaced lower side wall portions 12', all as shown in Pig. 2 of the drawings.

The apparatus includes two spaced bearing brackets each of which includes a supporting shelf 38 and a vertical Wall 39 which forms part of the outer wall of the ad jacent blower housing 26. The rotor shaft 40 of rotor 33 extends transversely through the casing or housing 10' and each of its opposite ends extends through one of the blower housings 26, which housings 26 are located one on each side of the casing or housing 10, as shown in Fig. 4. The shaft 40 is supported by suitable bearings 41 and 42 arranged one near each end of the shaft and on the bracket shelves 3%. Shaft 48 carries the two spaced discs 43 which are keyed thereto and positioned thereon to extend into the pockets 27 formed by the blower housings 26 through the aforesaid apertures 29 in the side walls 12 of the casing or housing 10', which apertures 29 are concentric with the axis upon which the rotor 33 rotates. A pivot bar 44 extends between and its opposite ends project into aligned apertures formed one in each of the spaced discs 43 near the outer peripheries of the latter so as to lie on an axis that is substantially parallel to, but spaced radially from, the axis of shaft 40. Pivot bar 44 carries a swing hammer 45 the face length of which is substantially equal to the axial distance between the discs 43. The hammer 45 is a rectangular bar having a pair of lugs or cars 46, one at each end, that project radially inwardly between the spaced discs 43 and through which the pivot bar 44 extends to mount the hammer for pivotal swinging movement about the axis of the pivot bar 44. A pair of bars 47, similar to the pivot bar 45, extend between the end discs 43 and these bars, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, are positioned to limit the are through which the hammer 45 can swing.

To insure dynamic rotor balance, each of the discs 43 is provided with a balance weight 48, the weights being secured to those parts of the discs 43 which are diametrically opposite the points of attachment of the pivot bar 44 to the end discs 43. Each of the weights 48 includes a renewable or replaceable arcuate part 49 which is designed to present a flat surface 59 that projects radially from the associated disc 43. These surfaces 50 aid in clearing the pockets or chambers 27 of sludge during the operation of the machine as will be later described. The end face of each disc 43 that is within one of the pockets or chambers 27 carries a number of radial fins 51 which are seen in Fig. 4 of the drawings. These fins 51 cooperate with the discs 43 to function as blower rotor elements to cause air to flow from the pockets or chambers 27 through the discharge or exhaust outlets 28. The path in which the hammer 45 rotates is located so that, during rotation of the rotor 33, the radially outermost face of the hammer 45 will just clear the upper surfaces of the lowermost breaker bars 34.

A flap 52 hangs from a rod in the casing or housing it? that is adjacent the top wall 17 and extends between the spaced side walls 12 between the rotor 33 and feed opening i8. This flap 52 is preferably pivotally attached to hang freely from its carrying bar so that it can swing to avoid interfering with the passage of large pieces of material to the rotor 33. Flap 52 prevents material thrown by the rotor 33 from passing out of the machine through the feed opening 18' and possibly injurying the machine operator.

A motor platform 53 is mounted on the sledge or base plate 10 on which an electric motor 54 is adjustably supported. This motor is secured in position by adjusting screws 55 which extend throught internally threaded apertures in brackets 56 attached to the sledge or base plate lit. The shaft 57 of'the motor has keyed thereon a number of V-pulleys 52?: which are arranged to drive, through V-belts 59, V-pulleys 60 which are keyed on an end of the rotor shaft 4!) which projects beyond the bearing il. The V-pulleys 58 and 69 and belts 59 are shown diagrammatically in dotted outline in Fig. l of the drawings. The adjustable mounting of the motor 54 permits the motor to be displaced for the purpose of adjusting the tension of the V-belts 59.

To reduce dust and sparking to a minimum, a water spray system is built into the machine. This system includes pipes 61, arranged substantially in H-formation, as viewed in Fig. l of the drawings, and secured on the upper surface of the casing top wall 17. The spray system is adapted for connection, through a valve 62 and a detachable flexible hose, not shown in the drawings, to a source of water supply. From the pipe system 61 two jets 63 (Fig. 2) project into the hopper 18 just below the feed opening 18'. Water sprayed from these jets 63 wets material as it is fed into the casing or housing 10'. Two jets '64 (F-lg. 4), each controlled by a small valve 65, are provided in the spray system. Valves 65 are adjusted so that a small amount of water will drip upon the peripheries of the rotor discs 43. In practice, it has been found that materials in the form of sludge tend to build up in the pockets or chambers 27 and the water which drips from the jets 64 on to the discs 43 is thrown therefrom by centrifugal action and washes out these pockets or chambers 27.

In addition to the water spray system just described, water spray jets or apertures 66 are formed in the peripheral surface of an enlarged center portion 67 of the shaft 40. These spray jets or apertures 66 are supplied with water through bores or passageways 68 in the enlarged shaft portion 67. Passageways 68 communicate with a main axial bore or water passage 69 which extends partway through the shaft 40 from the non-driven end of the latter. This non-driven end of the shaft 40 is adapted for connection to a water supply by means of a connector 70 (Figs. 4 and 5) threaded into a tapped aperture 71 in a cap 72 which encloses the non-driven shaft end. The arrangement of the cap 72 on the non-driven shaft end is shown in detail in Fig. 5 of the drawings. The cap 72 is fitted, as shown, on to an end plate 73 which forms part of the main shaft bearing 42 at the non-driven shaft end. The non-driven shaft end is secured against axial displacement in relation to the bearing 42 by a nut 74 which is threaded on the shaft 40. Outwardly of this nut 74 the shaft 40 is surrounded by an oil seal 75 which bears against a shoulder within the end plate 73. On the side of the oil seal 75 remote from the nut 74 the end plate is provided with a drain aperture 76 through which water which may leak along the shaft 40 from the supply connection 70 will drain. The non-driven extremity of the shaft 40 is surrounded by a seal 77 which is secured in position by a lock ring 78.

Adjacent the motor 54 and on the sledge plate 10 are mounted a terminal box 79 and an electrical socket connector 80 which are of conventional design and therefore shown diagrammatically in the drawings.

Enclosing the entire machine is a detachable casing constructed of five parts 81, 82, 83, 84 and 85, the casing parts 81, 82 and 84 each being provided with a handle 86 to facilitate its removal.

In operation the rotor 33 is driven clockwise, as seen in Fig. 2 of the drawings, at approximately 1,000 revolutions per minute by the motor 54 and material, such as pit dirt or gob, is fed through the feed opening 18 and into the hopper 18 from which it slides down the inclined path, slide or chute formed by the breaker slide or chute bars 34 until it reaches a position below the rotor 33. The slope of the feed path, slide or chute formed by the plate 30 and bars 34 provides an even flow of material towards the rotor. As the material slides under the rotor 33 it is struck by the swing hammer 45 and propelled forwardly and ejected through the casing outlet, discharge or exhaust opening 19. It is to be understood, of course, that the cover 21 will be in the open position indicated in dot-dash lines in Fig. 2 of the drawings during the operation of the machine. Large pieces of material will be crushed by the hammer 45 as they pass under the rotor 33. From Fig. 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that there will be an unrestricted path through the casing or housing beneath the rotor 33 while the hammer 45 is travelling from approximately the 7 oclock position through the 12 oclock position to approximately the 2 oclock position, and any material which slides under the rotor when the hammer is between the 7 oclock and 2 oclock positions will be knocked or thrown through the outlet, discharge or exhaust opening 19 by the hammer 45.

Water sprayed from the jets 63 wets material in the feed hopper 18 and before it is struck by the hammer 4-5, while the water issuing through the openings or jets 66 in the enlarged portion 67 of shaft 40 will be dispersed by centrifugal force to wash the inside of the reducing chamber 10' in which the rotor 33 is positioned, and it will impinge on and wet those surfaces of the material which are exposed after breaking and which, consequently, have not been affected by the sprays from jets 63. At the same time, a supply of water is fed to the rotor discs 43 from jets 64 for the purpose of washing out sludge which tends to accumulate in the pockets 27 as aforesaid. This clearance of sludge from the pockets is further aided by the flat faces 50 of the counter-weights 48 which aid clearing material from these pockets and ejecting it through the discharge or exhaust openings 28. The water system as described is extremely efficient for killing substantially all sparking which occurs due to the impacts of the hammer 45 on the material passing therebelow, this reduction of sparking to an absolute minimum being essential when the machine is used underground. The air currents set up in the pockets or chambers 27 by the fins 51 are also an important factor in the safe operation of the machine. It will, of course, be appreciated that the means for killing sparking also serve to reduce dust and thereby generally improve working conditions in a mine.

By providing a single swing hammer 45 having a face length which is substantially equal to, or only slightly less than, the width of the reducing chamber 10', or the distance between the rotor end discs 43, the possibility of stoppages in the machine are reduced to a minimum since the material or gob, over substantially the entire width of its path, is subjected either directly or indirectly to hammer impacts and the machine therefore operates with extreme efiiciency.

Fig. 6 of the drawings illustrates one way in which the above described crushing and stowing machine may be employed in a mine to dispose of gob. In this illustration a mine passage or room is indicated at 90 from which there extends an abandoned passageway or worked out mine room 91 which latter mine room is being filled with gob or pit dirt. To begin the operation of filling the room 91, the crushing and stowing machine is placed in the room 91 with its forward or exhaust end facing that portion of the room that is to be packed with gob, and the motor of the crushing and stowing machine is energized to drive the rotor thereof. Gob is then fed into the machine through the feed opening 18, and this gob is reduced and/ or forcefully thrown or ejected through the outlet, discharge or exhaust opening of the machine 19 and injected or thrown into the mine room to form a first fill indicated at A in the drawing. When the fill A has been completed a plate 92 may be laid upon the fill A adjacent the exhaust or outlet opening 19 to direct reduced gob issuing from the exhaust opening 19 upwardly where it will follow an 6 arcuate path and be thrown upon the fill A to form the fill B. This operation may be repeated by placing the plate 92 upon the top of the fill B and then forming the fill C. It will of course be seen that the crushing and stowing machine may and probably will be advanced toward the room as the room 91 becomes filled.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended, and applicant therefore wishes not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of the invention, what it is desired to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A crushing and stowing machine including a housing having spaced wall means, each forming an opening concentric about a common axis, means forming a feed hopper positioned laterally of said axis, means forming an exhaust opening in the end of said housing opposite said feed hopper, a rotor within said housing having a shaft rotating on said axis, spaced end discs on said shaft projecting one through each of said aligned openings, means associated with said housing surrounding each of said end discs and cooperating to form blower housings, radial fin means on each of said end discs within said blower housings adapted to operate as blower rotors, a swing hammer extending between said end discs, balance weight means carried by each of said end discs for dynamically balancing said rotor and providing a face extending transversely and radially within each of said blower housings adapted to throw sludge therefrom, means forming a slide leading from said feed hopper under said rotor and toward said exhaust opening whereby material placed in said feed hopper will slide beneath said rotor to be crushed and impelled forwardly through said exhaust opening by said swing hammer, and nozzles associated with said feed hopper, blower housings and rotor shaft for spraying Water to wash sludge from the machine and for suppressing sparking within the machine.

2. An impact type crushing and stowing machine including a housing, means forming a feed opening and an exhaust opening in one end thereof, a rotor including a shaft within said housing, a hammer carried by said rotor, means forming a slide leading from said feed opening under said rotor and toward said exhaust opening whereby material fed through said feed opening will slide beneath said rotor to be crushed and impelled forwardly from the housing through said exhaust opening by said hammer, jet means positioned to spray liquid on mate rial being fed through said feed opening, and jet means on said rotor shaft rotating therewith for spraying liquid into said housing and upon the material when it is struck by said hammer and thereafter while it is travelling forwardly within the housing toward said end exhaust opening, thereby suppressing dust and sparking within the machine.

3. An impact type crushing and stowing machine including a housing, means forming a feed opening and an exhaust opening in one end thereof, a rotor including a shaft within said housing, a hammer carried. by said rotor, means forming a slide leading from said feed opening under said rotor and toward said exhaust opening whereby material fed through said feed opening will. slide beneath said rotor to be crushed and impelled forwardly from the housing through said exhaust opening by said hammer, jet means positioned to spray liquid on material being fed through said feed opening, and jet means on said rotor rotating therewith for spraying liquid into said housing and upon the material when it is struck by said hammer and thereafter while it is travelling forwardly Within said housing toward said exhaust opening, thereby suppressing dust and sparking within the machine.

4. An impact type crushing and stowing machine in- 7 eluding a housing, means forming a feed opening and an exhaust opening in one end thereof, a rotor including a shaft within said housing, a hammer carried by said rotor, means forming a slide leading from said feed opening under said rotor and toward said exhaust opening whereby material fed through said feed opening will slide beneath said rotor to be crushed and impelled forwardly from the housing through said exhaust opening by said hammer, and jet means on said rotor for spraying liquid into said housing and upon the material when it is struck by said hammer and thereafter While it is travelling forwardly within said housing toward said exhaust opening, thereby suppressing dust and sparking within the machine.

5. An impact type crusher including a housing for the reception of material to be crushed, a rotor within said housing, means feeding the material adjacent the rotor, a hammer on said rotor adapted to be rotated in the housing for bringing the hammer in contact with the material to crush the material and impel the material away from adjacent the rotor, said rotor including radially directed jet means rotating with the hammer for spraying liquid into said housing and upon the material during the crushing thereof by said hammer and thereafter while the material is in the housing, thereby suppressing dust and sparking within the housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 198,192 DHeureuse Dec. 18, 1877 8 Gardner Mar. 17, Mitchell Nov. 14, Williams Sept. 18, Sanders July 29, Schuster Nov. 16, Phelps Mar. 15, Hosmann Jan. 31, Grifiith Sept. 26, Blum July 19, Butler Apr. 12, McDonnell June 26, Wood Aug. 26, Moody Nov. 25, I-Iussey Mar. 10, Briggs Apr. 21, Kopriner July 18, Dryfoos May 22, Coble July 31, Daniels Sept. 10, Mosley Nov. 23, Clark Aug. 24, DeBack July 29, Feight Nov. 2, Passelt Sept. 2,

FOREIGN PATENTS France Apr. 27, Great Britain Apr. 7, Germany Aug. 14,

Germany Dec. 14, 

